This invention relates to a SELECTIVE IMPRINTING MACHINE, and more particularly to a machine of the type commonly used for addressing mailed material.
Machines of this type generally have a stock of embossed printing media such as cards or plates, and the plates are fed one at a time through the machine. Those plates bearing desired information are impressed by the machine against a receiving medium such as an envelope and are passed on through the machine to a receiver. Unwanted plates are detected by some sensing mechanism, and are passed straight through the machine without being impressed.
Prior machines of this type have either lacked the level of sophistication desirable in selecting desired plates from unwanted plates, or have achieved an enhanced level of sophistication by mechanical complexity, with attendant high manufacturing cost. Attempts to raise the level of versatility of such machines by providing additional electrical circuitry have generally resulted in requiring a large memory capacity or in awkward procedures for changing the selection routine of the machine, or both.
Prior art machines dependent upon mechanical identification of desired plates also suffered from the slowness inherent in such mechanical means as compared to electronic selection. A further problem of complexity of apparatus arose in those machines capable of sorting operations in combination with printing operations.